AHS Launches Drive to Recruit Nurses

There’s never been a better time for a career in nursing, and Alameda Health System’s doors are wide open to qualified candidates.

As AHS forges ahead amid the System Transformation of our Strategic Plan, top quality nursing care is a fundamental piece of our path to success, particularly in the area of patient experience.

That’s why we’re ramping up our recruitment efforts, as we also lay the foundation for obtaining Magnet Recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center by 2019.

Magnet designation would demonstrate that AHS upholds the highest standards for the nursing profession, measuring a range of key factors including work environment, inclusion in decision-making, education opportunities, and career and leadership development.

It’s all part of AHS’s commitment to hire the best practitioners of this demanding profession and our drive to attain our strategic goals. Magnet Care-accredited hospitals show better patient outcomes and higher levels of satisfaction for patients and nurses alike. The elite distinction is claimed by only six percent of U.S. hospitals.

Not surprisingly, top nursing candidates are very much in demand.

“Today’s recruitment landscape is changing dramatically,” says Lisa May, AHS director of talent management. “Candidates are more savvy, more selective, and they’re looking for employers that want to invest in them.”

That makes it important for AHS to seek out experienced, qualified candidates and sell them on our superior resources and growing reputation, making sure they know what we have to offer. In today’s world, social media is vital in making contact and forging relationships.

Plugging into LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Glassdoor, Indeed and other social media and employment sites – used by jobseekers and employers alike – is a key component in AHS’s intensified recruitment strategy.

Lisa and others involved in the effort, for example, are urging managers to use their own LinkedIn accounts to sell the benefits of working at AHS. We’re promoting our growing body of YouTube videos via Facebook posts, Twitter and other means. We’re even planning to use less-techy tools such as generic business cards for folks to pass along when they bump into potential recruits in their daily lives.

“It’s not about attending a job fair anymore and having a booth, it’s about interaction,” Lisa says. “We want to go out there and court good candidates. We’re talking to our managers about how prepared they are for interviewing candidates.”

In today’s competitive hiring environment, it’s crucial that candidates know what AHS has to offer not just in salary and benefits, but in learning opportunities and career advancement.

Those attributes are especially important to the tier of nurses AHS is seeking – experienced ones, particularly in ambulatory care and such specialty areas as the ICU. One of the greatest assets of all is the knowledge that you are valued, respected, and listened to.

“The best thing we can do is to treat our employees right,” Lisa says. “We want candidates to know that our leaders are here to support them in providing the best care for our patients.”